In this guideline, “Tally sheet” means the list of names and payments made to attend an event held in the name of The Society for Creative Anachronism Ltd by branches in Australia or The Society for Creative Anachronism Inc by branches in New Zealand. It might be handwritten information on a sheet of paper, a printed and illustrated form; electronic records in a package such as Excel or a mixture of these.

This Guideline does not form part of the official policy of the SCA Ltd/ SCA Inc and does not delineate SCA Ltd/SCA Inc policies. All instructions, policies and directions by the Lochac Kingdom Exchequer, Corporate Treasurer(s), and mundane law take precedence.

For small events, the Steward is normally the major contributor to the creation of the event's paperwork unless the branch has established standards. The paperwork often reflects the size and expected level of complexity of the event and can range from a single page of lined writing paper to computer records and filing cabinets of pre-registration envelopes etc.

This guideline is designed for those Stewards, Booking Officers and Event Cashiers creating documents to support the recording of attendance and payment of entrance fees at small to medium events. It deals with collecting data necessary for the reporting of an event and recording some common types of payments. Samples of various styles are illustrated in the text. Electronic blanks can be found on the Reeves' Wiki at: _Insert links here_

The samples below are in order of increasing complexity. The term Reeve means the Reeve of the branch sponsoring the event and Event Cashier is the person or persons taking money at the front door of the event.

To assist analysis after the event, the Tally Sheet should contain as a minimum, a clearly written list of:

Date;

Mundane name;

Adult or not;

Membership status; and

Amount paid.

This gathers all the information that the Steward will need when preparing the financial report for the Reeve to calculate the Kingdom Levy and the Event Memberships.

Here are some sample lines:

Name

Adult

Member

Amount received

John Smith

$25

Jane Doe

$27

Paul Black

$12

Peter White

$5

Gerald Green

$25

Mary Lamb

free

A readable list of the names of the attendees, whether they had a card showing an annual membership of the SCA Ltd, if they were over 18 years of age and how much they paid makes it so much easier to analyse the income later. All adults incur a $1 Kingdom Levy. Those adults not presenting an annual membership card pay an additional $5 ($2 in NZ) and become Event Members for the duration of the event. These moneys are collected on behalf of other parts of the organisation and are not event income.

Whichever layout you wish to use, the primary requirement is that the total matches the total from the cash tin and the secondary requirement is that the adults are clearly identified with their membership type. When arriving or leaving, the Event Cashier and anyone who handles the money should count it, record the total and sign the sheet.

Using a pen and a ruler to draw some lines to make columns on writing paper is all that is necessary to create a Tally Sheet. The four columns illustrated in the sample above collect the minimum information necessary.

The Event Cashier can total the amounts and balance with the money in the cash tin (allowing for any float). If everyone pays on the day, the Steward can easily calculate how many adults attended – multiply by $1 to identify the Kingdom Levy to be paid to the Kingdom Exchequer by the Reeve. The number of Event Members is also easily identified – multiply by $5/$2 (Aus/NZ) to total the Event Memberships to be paid to the Corporate Treasurer by the Reeve.

Some Stewards prefer to record “Membership Number” as most members will have their cards in their hands to present to the Constable in preparation to sign the Members' waiver. It also encourages people to use one line per person and we do not see “John and friends” as an entry with an amount that does not help identify how many people, adults or children. Yes, it has happened and but at least there is the name “John” to attempt to find out who the John was on the Constables list and back track from there.

With just 4 columns, a normal portrait page is suitable. If you want to use more columns or wider columns for handwriting, landscape is a better option. The fewer rows on the landscape page usually means there will be more pages and the addition of page numbers helps to keep track of them.

Writing the name of the event and the date it occurred on the top of the page might seem redundant but when a piece of paper separates from the bundle, it is much easier to identify it. “The monthly bash” needs this identification more than the Christmas party as there might be a number of regular repeated events recorded in the Reeve's files.

In this modern age, Stewards often have access to computers with design software and some Tally Sheets have the branch device, title in fancy script, address and date at the top with page numbers at the bottom.

The details on the top of the Tally Sheet might include the relevant entry fees and age group to assist the Event Cashier and attendees easily identify the appropriate amount due. The Steward might offer the options of site entry ie Tourney only, full event, feast only etc. It can be easier to make it an addable list of site fee + Event Membership + Kingdom Levy + Feast + Sunday with a total column for the Event Cashier to use.

For the sake of simplicity in the advertisement and for the Event Cashier, most Stewards in Lochac use combined pricing where the Kingdom Levy and Event Membership are included in the stated event entrance fee.

The other columns make it clear that the other amounts are not part of the event fee. These are totalled on the Tally Sheet so that it is not necessary to calculate it afterwards. When emptying the cash tin, the Event Cashier can put that money into a separate plastic bag for the branch Reeve and it is treated separately from the very beginning.

Using legal names is safer than SCA names as they can be changed by whim. It helps matching with the receipts or completed Waivers if any cross checking is necessary. Some Stewards like to have two name columns but that leaves it open for someone to use their SCA name and choose not to fill in the other space particularly when there is an impatient queue behind them.

Event Cashiers are strongly encouraged to only record the amount that was actually received at the door. Writing an amount with the words “still owing” might remind someone that this person did not have change or has permission from the Stewards to pay in the following week, but it can wreak havoc with the adding up later.

When it is encouraged to make bookings before the event to help with catering estimates, the Bookings Officer might already have names of those people and relevant amounts that they should pay at the top of the list. In this case, there needs to be a second column for an amount or initials to confirm payment at the door.

When pre-payments are received, it necessary to have this information at the front table. There should be an additional column to mark attendance at the event. If there is any discount offered for early booking, it is normally only when the booking is paid for by a certain date and commonly into the branch bank account. The bookings officer and the Reeve should determine when information from the Reeve regarding direct deposits into the bank account such as date/ name/amount is to be shared. This information entered on pages of its own, allows for a pre-paid line to form at the table and for those attendees to be confirmed and ticked off quickly. When the list is expected to be more than twenty or thirty people, alphabetical ordering of the pre-payments is useful.

Sample

Name

Membership Number

Event Member

Adult

Kingdom Levy

Event entrance fee

Amount
Pre-paid

Total received at event

Site Token issued

John Smith

123456

-

$1

$24

$25

-

In this case, the Event Cashier uses the column total of “Total received at event” to match against the contents of the cash tin.

Some Stewards wish to collect additional information such as SCA name, branch, expiry date of membership, age of minor and name of responsible adult. Any additional columns might involve extra writing on the part of the attendee and to reduce impatience in the queue, it is advised to have multiple pages and writing implements available for use.

The Tally Sheet is a very important piece of original evidence that is used by the Steward and the Reeve when finalising the financial report and forms part of the Event Report. It can also be used for statistical purposes, budgeting and future event planning for the branch. It should be copied and be retained by both the Steward and the Reeve\\.